


Understanding Monsters

by b00mgh



Category: South Park
Genre: (as a coping mechanism), (if you don't know what that means its ok u don't need to), Angst, Child Abuse, Craig Tucker is also doing his best, Craig Tucker's Parents are Awful, JUST, M/M, Semantically Challenged AU, Tweek Tweak is doing his best, shameless angst, so uhhhh, tw
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-16
Updated: 2020-02-16
Packaged: 2021-02-27 21:41:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,552
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22762615
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/b00mgh/pseuds/b00mgh
Summary: Craig Tucker's parents are just awful, and tonight Tweek gets a close-up look at why!(This hurt so bad to write why did I write this ouchies)Inspired by and set in the world of the work "Semantically Challenged" by TeamAlphaQ, because I just finished that the other day and it's so fucking good y'all should go read it if u haven't already.
Relationships: Craig Tucker/Tweek Tweak
Comments: 6
Kudos: 61





	Understanding Monsters

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Semantically Challenged](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12739188) by [TeamAlphaQ](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TeamAlphaQ/pseuds/TeamAlphaQ). 



There were lots of things Tweek didn’t understand about Craig. 

Craig always wore that hat, even when it was hot out and he was sweating and oh god  _ he’ll melt whydoeshekeepwearingit!? _

Craig asked him all the time if he was a monster. And– JESUS CHRIST– why would he be?

Craig sometimes shifted uncomfortably in his sweaters because they were too small–  _ whatifheneverstopsgrowing oh god _ – but he never got bigger ones.

Craig often set his head on top of Tweek’s, even if he had to stand on tiptoe to do so, now that Tweek’s had his growth spurt and their difference in height wasn’t quite so dramatic.

Craig insisted he could protect Tweek from any monster Tweek could name– to a fault, a few times,  _ ohjesus i don’t want to think about it idon’twanttoleave him _ – but he never told Tweek about the monsters that lived in his house. His monsters don’t like to be talked about. And Tweek can understand complying with the idiosyncrasies of monsters because monsters are scary and Tweek doesn’t want Craig to be scared of anything– not that he’s ever seen Craig scared of much  _ exceptthatonenightinhisroom JESUS CHRIST and he coveredmyears and I’ve never seen his eyes sowide _ . 

Tweek doesn’t understand why Craig feels the need to hold him quite this close when they sleep in Craig’s bed, at Craig’s house, but he’s not worried about it either. Craig holding him feels like the best kind of suffocation, even though Tweek isn’t actually asphyxiating in the biological sense  _ god you sound dumb thatdoesn’tevenmakesense. _ Tweek is comfortable in Craig’s arms, happy, and he can feel the vertebrae in Craig’s spine relaxing one by one the longer Tweek stays, so Tweek loves this. He twitches, but it’s more of a pervasive shiver passing through both of them in waves every other minute. Craig’s house is comfortable and safe because it’s where Craig lives, and Craig is usually in it– and as far as Tweek is concerned that makes it the safest place in South Park. 

The uncontrollable squeak that filters through his vocal cords resonates into a contented sigh that dissolves in the air between Tweek’s face and Craig’s shoulder. 

Craig is almost asleep, Tweek can tell because he knows what Craig breathes like normally, and because Tweek is beginning to drift as well, panicked whitewater of screaming anxieties slowing to a curling eddy of ambling curiosities. He wonders if he could name the constellations painstakingly mimicked with luminescent plastic on the ceiling without Craig reminding him.

“Ursa Major,” Tweek whispers, “Ursa Minor. Sagitarrius.” Fingers calloused with violence from an unfair number of years move with sleepy slowness to tangle in chick-fluff hair, proving that Craig still held onto at least a little consciousness. “Virgo. Cassiopia.”

“That one’s Pegasus,” Craig corrected, voice thick and heavy with sleep.

“Pegasus,” Tweek mimicked, and he let his hands move to clutch at a different part of Craig’s shirt, just to give them something to do in the content stillness. 

And then the front door slammed downstairs. Tweek didn’t even need the shouting to echo up the staircase to know that the monster was here, he felt it in the way every vertebrae in Craig’s spine tensed defensively– if Craig’s scared then  _ we’re gonna _ **_die i don_ ** _ ’t wanna die _ . 

Like the rush of water surging after a dam breaks, Craig whispered, “Tweek, go.”

“ _ Jesus– AGH–  _ No! N-no!”

“Tweek, this isn’t the time, you have to go,  _ now _ .” And that. That change in tone. Craig’s tone never changed. Hadn’t changed more than twice in the whole time Tweek had known him. But there his voice tightened around itself and shrank into an animal backed into a corner. 

“I’m gonna DIE!” Tweek screeched behind a stifling hand. He could barely hear the words being screamed downstairs over the sudden, derailing screeching of his mind. “Jesus,  _ Craig I-I-I’m not leaving. _ ”

That change in tone built itself into a terrified glow in the galaxy-blue of Craig’s eyes, and he whispered fiercely, “This isn’t the time. Go home.” Something the monster screamed downstairs hit Craig like a frying pan to the ribcage, and all of his limbs locked themselves tight in place.

“I can– ghrr– I can fight them!” Tweek insisted, promised, begged, “I’ll s-scare them away,  _ jesuschrist _ .” 

“No, you can’t.” And Craig yanked them both out of bed and considered the window and then turned with a panicked–  _ Craig can’t bepan _ **_ickedohg_ ** _ od to _ **_omuchpressure_ ** – look when footsteps boomed in a staggering pattern up the stairs outside the door and then Tweek was being shoved into Craig’s closet, next to Stripe, and Craig didn’t say anything but his eyes pleaded  _ Don’t move _ . But Tweek was gonna move anyway– that was  _ Craig _ and Tweek wasn’t going to leave Craig to  _ whatever _ **_monster_ ** _ shishousehad _ AGH!– except then the door to Craig’s room slammed open and  _ Tweek’smonsters never did THAT it’s too much  _ **_pressure_ ** – and Tweek could see through the little gaps between the slats in the door of the closet that the only person who came in was Craig’s dad and Tweek nearly cried out with relief because  _ thankgod Craig’s parents  _ **_must finally be h_ ** _ ere to deal with Craig’s _ **_monster_ ** _. _

But, of course, Tweek was wrong.

Tweek didn’t understand why Craig’s monsters were different than Tweek’s, but now he was seeing with too-wide, too-green eyes that Craig’s monsters were different because Tweek’s monsters never picked him up by the throat and threw him at the wall hard enough to make the whole house tremble. Tweek’s monsters didn’t kick him over and over and _over jesuschristohgo_ ** _d nonono_** again. Tweek’s monsters didn’t grab him by the wrist and drag him like a limp doll over to the dresser and yank a drawer out and shove him in it and try to close it with a skin-splintering **_DUN_**. Tweek’s monsters didn’t yank him out of his dresser drawer by the arm and step on his throat and scream about **_IF YOU WANT TO ACT LIKE A BABY AND CRY I’LL GIVE YOU SOMETHING TO CRY ABOUT YOU PIECE OF FUCKING SHIT DO YOU WANT ME TO KNOCK SOME SENSE INTO YOUR SISTER TOO IS THAT WHAT THIS IS ABOUT I SWEAR TO GOD I’LL KILL YOU BOTH DISGUSTING MONSTER THAT’S WHAT YOU ARE_**

“Ican’t I can’t this is too much pressure–  _ GEH _ !” Tweek’s voice escaped him before he could do anything about it other than slap a feeble, arresting hand over his mouth.

**_WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT_ **

“I didn’t hear anything,” Craig insisted, voice as even, calm, collected, certain as ever.

**_I SWEAR I FUCKING HEARD SOMETHING DON’T YOU ACCUSE ME OF BEING STUPID YOU’RE SUCH A GODDAMNED FUCKING IDIOT_ **

Craig coughed, and Tweek could hear how uneven, how inconstant, how stuttering Craig’s breathing had become. “I didn’t hear anything, I swear– maybe a car passed outside or something,” he said.

Those words must have been the right ones, because the monster scoffed and growled **_I CAN’T EVEN LOOK AT YOU YOU’RE A PIECE OF SHIT I CAN’T BELIEVE I RAISED SUCH A MONSTER_** and the monster slammed the door behind him when he left. 

Tweek stayed very, very still in case the monster came back  _ ohjesus what if it comesb _ **_ack_ ** and waited for Craig to give some kind of signal that it was safe to come out. That the monster was gone. But there was no signal. Just the outline of Craig breathing in oceanic swells on the carpet in the dark.

Tweek didn’t realize that he had both hands tangled in his hair and pulling and he was biting his lip and drawing blood and he was rocking back and forth in little dips of his toes until he heard the type of breath that, from anyone else, meant tears.  _ ButthisisCraig and Craig JESUS doesn’t cry  _ **_ohgod_ ** . So Tweek dropped his hair and licked the blood from his lips and slid the door to the closet open and scooted over on his knees until he was right next to Craig, close enough to make out every detail in the harsh illumination of the glow-in-the-dark stars. 

To put it bluntly– meaning both unprettily and also less poignantly than reality– Craig looked like shit. Blood was leaking from somewhere– maybe a few somewheres  _ ohgodohgod  _ **_Craig_ ** . He’d escaped bruising on his face, but everywhere else had been dyed purple and black and blue and red red  _ red _ . And he was crying. And  _ ohjesuschr _ **_ist_ ** **that’s worse** . 

“Ngh– C-Craig?” Tweek whispered, putting every ounce of self-control he had into keeping his voice low, even as his speech freckled with uncontrollable noises jerking frantically from his chest.

Craig didn’t open his eyes, and he couldn’t stop crying  **god ohno that meansits** **_really bad_ ** and he didn’t reply immediately, just lifted one bruised arm to cover his face.

“GAh!” Tweek couldn’t stop the noises erupting from his mouth, couldn’t stop shaking and couldn’t stop the infernal incessant  _ screaming thescreams it’s  _ **_too much pressure_ ** . “Ack!” All he could do was try and keep them quiet enough that they didn’t slip under the door and beckon the monster back. WHAT IF IT COMESB **A** **_CK_ ** . “Craig– ggrhg– are y-you a-a-alright?” Dumbquestiond _ umbque _ stiondu **mbquesti** on.

“I’m a monster,” Craig’s vocal cords rattled with the words, escaping past clenched teeth and tears, “I’m sorry Tweek.”

_ Nononono _ **_nono_ ** “No! AH– You’re n-not a m-m-mons-ster.” notcraig  _ craig i _ **_s sa_ ** _ fe sa _ **_fesaf_ ** _ esa _ fe “The monster didn’thurtme!”

“But you’re bleeding,” Craig insisted quietly, evenly, unnervingly quick to go back to his normal toneless voice. He moved his arm to reassess Tweek. Tweek wasn’t sure what he found, but he didn’t like the way his mouth tipped just a little closer to a frown than normal.  _ Go _ **_d atleast_ ** _ he _ ’s not  **cryingany** more.

“I j-just bit my lip– GAH!”

“You’re okay?”

“I’m o- _ okay _ .”

And Tweek could see the way that two words released some of the tension in the gears comprising Craig’s mind. The way he just relaxed. As long as Tweek was safe. 

Suddenly, it made a surprising and horrifying amount of sense that Craig wanted to keep Tweek protected from everything. Most of Craig’s threats were four times his size and drunk and screaming, and that is the kind of thing nobody could handle. Not even Tweek. Not even Craig, apparently.  _ TOOMUC _ **_HPRESS_ ** _ URE!! _

But Tweek, for all of his want and his need and his sheer force of will to _help_ ** _godwhy_** _can’tI HELP_ , don’t kn **ow how** **_usele_** _ss._ His medical knowledge extended to bandaids and ended abruptly there. This was not fixable with a bandaid **_AGH_** _TOOmuch_ ** _pressure._** What could Tweek really actually do to help? What could he do? What was Tweek better at than anyone in the world?

He could be there for Craig, and help him calm down, and convince him he was safe. All the things Craig could do for Tweek in the middle of fourth period with a calm hand on his head, Tweek could do now with– with _ agh _ **_go_ ** _ d what canido! _ **_?_ **

Fighting, almost physically, if he imagined hard enough, with the screaming voices in his mind, shushing them into background wails and worried whispers, Tweek took the first step. He prodded Craig to sit up, and he pulled him to stand up and he nearly fell over for it, and he pushed him into his bed and threw all the blankets in the room on top of him– to weigh him down, just in case he started floating or his soul tried to leave his body or something li _ ke that oh  _ **_god wha_ ** _ t if hel _ **_eaves_ ** _? _ No. No. Hush. Not now. “Don’t m-move!” he squeaked, and he lunged for a metal baseball bat leaning in the corner of the room and he slipped out of the room on silent feet, ears pulsing with his heartbeat as they strained for any sound of  **monsters** . None came by the time he pushed the door to Ruby’s room open and shut it behind him as he took in the dismal scenery. Ruby was tucked in the corner, shoved between the wall and the edge of her dresser. 

“C-come on, Rub-by– A _ CK! _ ” he kept his voice as low as he could, and he waited for Ruby to look up, all sass evicted from the muscles that kept her face the way it was, and she nodded shakily and followed Tweek. As an afterthought, thinking of Craig hidden beneath all those blankets and being that much safer for it, Tweek grabbed all the blankets off Ruby’s bed and took them with him as they snuck back into Craig’s room. 

Craig hadn’t moved, but he made a high-pitched noise of surprise when the door shut behind Tweek, and tried to sit up. “Tweek,” he called, flatly, and if Tweek hadn’t been there he wouldn’t have known there was anything wrong.  _ howmanyt _ **_imes_ ** _ has th _ **_is happene_ ** **d**

“Rhrr– Right he-here, Craig,” Tweek whisper-screeched across the anxious silence, “Ruby’s– UAKK– here too. She’s okay.” A soft sigh slid out from the pile of blankets Tweek had buried Craig in. 

Tweek spent too long fussing over the positioning of the blanket-nest he was making Ruby, but she crawled her whole six-year-old self into it regardless and Tweek tucked the blanket all the way around her so nothing at all could get in. She curled up in it and fell asleep in minutes.

The next thing was the dresser, one drawer hanging out at a broken-bone angle from where the  **monster** had slammed it on Craig, and Tweek pushed with all the strength he had until the dresser blocked the door entirely. Nothing could get past that. Tweek locked the window and shut the blinds and wrung his hands trying to make sure nothing could get in from anywhere. All his trade secrets to keeping  **monsters** away were out on full display, and Tweek double-triple- **_didIalreadycheck_ ** -checked that Ruby was safe in her blanket-nest, tucked safely under Craig’s desk where no  **monster** would think to look for her and that Craig was safely burrowed into his blanket-armor as well.  **Monsters** hate blankets.

Then it was just Tweek, bouncing on the balls of his feet and tearing at his hair again and twitching with enough force to throw his limbs around. With everyone safe, his mind screamed again. Incomprehensible thoughts whirred in his mind until he felt like he was in a blender, spinning and hurting and screaming.

“Tweek,” Craig mumbled, and his hand stuck out from the blankets and grabbed Tweek’s arm and pulled him into the blanket pile like a force of nature.  _ what’s wro _ **_ngwrong_ ** _ Craig  _ **_iS SAf_ ** _ e.  _ But Craig pulls Tweek as close as he can, just like normal, and he runs his fingers through Tweek’s hair, and Tweek can’t stop shaking but he does stop twitching. His breathing matches up with Craig’s, as best it can.  _ o _ **_fcourse Cra_ ** _ ig is alwaystherehe isalways safe. _

And Tweek does the only thing he can think of to return the favor. He whispers, “Stripe is okay. Ruby is okay. You’re okay. I’m okay. W-w-we’re okay. We’re s-safe.”

Craig knew the constellations on his ceiling. Tweek knew the conspiracy theories of the internet.

Craig knew what he could protect Tweek from. Tweek knew what he could keep safe. 

**Author's Note:**

> :D .................. I'm so sorry
> 
> Scream at me in the comments, nothing brings me more joy!


End file.
